Free Russian Lessons and Courses

Free Russian Lessons and Courses
We have gathered together here a number of free Russian language lessons and language courses for those learning Russian, along with some other Russian language resources, such as Russian online courses and exercises, podcasts, video lessons, alphabets, dictionaries, lexicons, verb conjugations, language communities, newspapers, articles, and books. Most of these sites will be in English, although a number are multilingual in nature. Note: most of the pages will require the installation of Cyrillic fonts.

A Spoonful of Russian
Use the audio and videos on the site to stir your interest in Russian language or to refresh your former skills. Learn to participate in simple, direct conversations on everyday topics, in everyday situations; satisfy immediate needs, such as ordering food and making simple purchases. My desire is to create love for the Russian language in my listeners and motivate them to learn more.

Bab.la Language Portal
"The bab.la language portal offers you dictionary translations, language quizzes and games, vocabulary lessons for learning and much more. bab.la is interactive: You can enter your own translation, create your own language test or your own vocabulary flashcard set. babla - Loving Languages!". Quizzes, games, vocabulary learning and dictionary aids for English, Chinese, French, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Spanish, and Turkish.
Business Russian Podcast
This podcast is for those who want to learn Russian Business vocabulary and cultural/nonverbal aspects of Russian Business communication in order to have successful business relations with Russian partners or open a new business in Russia. Level: intermediate and advanced. From the UCLA Center for World Languages.
A Collocational Russian-English Dictionary of the Human Body
An interactive on-line dictionary that lists thousands of phrases for describing the appearance, movements, moods, injuries, etc. of human beings.
Cornell's Beginning Russian Through Film
Short digitized clips from Russian films are the primary source of language and culture in this course. We collected close to 400 clips and placed them on this Web site along with many supporting materials.
Course of Russian Language in Pictures
Pictures with their Russian and English equivalents, plus a soundfile pronunciation of the Russian word.
A Course of Russian Language in Spanish
Short course in Russian intended for speakers of Spanish.
Dialogs to Supplement Beginning Russian
Lora Paperno's dialogs supplementing Beginning Russian, by by Leed, Nakhimovsky, and Nakhimovsky, in Real Audio format.
GW Language Across The Curriculum
List of content language exercises for Russian from George Washington University, entirely in Russian; for beginning, intermediate, and advanced students.
Intermediate Russian Exercises
Intermediate exercises in Russian from the Russian Language Mentor.
An Introduction to Russian
This tutorial is designed as a beginning point for a casual learner. It does not require any special Russian fonts or software. By J. David Eisenberg.
Languages Online: Russian
A listing of links to quizzes and exercises in Russian grammar, reading, and writing at various locations.
Learn to Read Russian
Teaches the Cyrillic alphabet by showing English words with their Cyrillic spellings, and explanation of the characters; the depictions are in graphics format.
Learn Russian Easily
The site contains essential lessons that give just basic information about Russian reading and grammar. However, without this knowledge, it's impossible to proceed with the main lessons.The site is also growing. That means that new lessons appear instantly and help learners to improve their level of Russian comprehension and speaking.
Learningrussian.com
Learningrussian.com offers free and premium educational resources on learning Russian as a foreign language for all levels of students who want to master Russian independently. Includes a Russian grammar, and online literature texts with facing pages bilingual editions in Russian and English.
Listen 2 Russian
Learning from textbooks provides a good foundation, but you may be surprised how little you can understand when someone speaks to you in normal-paced, native Russian. The way Russians talk on the street is significantly different to the ideal pronunciation presented in language books. The aim of this website is to help visitors to the Russian Federation understand Russian as it is naturally spoken.
Little Russia
Little Russia is a loose association of volunteers promoting Russian Culture to the world, covering children's folk tales, musical heritage, art and literature, architecture, cuisine, humor, and including a discussion forum. It was founded in April 1994 by Vladimir Pekkel (Texas).
Little Russia Children Songs and Fairy Tales
Children's stories told in Russian in Real Audio format; with English text translations of several. "These stories, or skazki, were passed down orally from generation to generation, until finally recorded in print in the late eighteenth century. They draw on the myths of a deep pagan past, a past in which the winters of the broad, wind-swept steppe held both an enchantment and a dread, a time in which the darkening forests cast longer shadows than they do today. "
Lora's Dialogs
Dialogs in Russian in QuickTime format, with audio and text, by Lora Paperno.
MasterRussian.com
Site with free grammar lessons, useful vocabulary words and phrases, helpful tips on learning the Russian language, and hand-picked links to the sites about the Russian language.
Mednyj Vsadnik
A Real Audio recording of the poem Mednyj Vsadnik, with links to annotated text in Russian and historical information. Read by Lora Paperno.
Peace Corps Kazakh Russian Course
Subscribe and listen to language lessons from around the world. Click on a language lesson in order to listen to the lesson in your default media player. Or you can subscribe to the lessons as podcasts. Includes a downloadable PDF text and audio files in MP3 format.
Phrasebase Russian Language Learning Resources
The Phrasebase website is the ultimate environment allowing you to read an Russian Alphabet based phonetic spelling of common and useful everyday phrases in effort to memorize it and it's meaning. Phrases are accompanyed by sound files allowing you to listen repetitively and repeat out loud to practice pronunciation. And lastly, there are thousands of other members who can help you with your target language. With a live webcam audio/video chatroom, Russian language exchange pen-pals, Russian online phrasebook, country information, and language information.
RusLang.com
This site was created for people, who want to improve their existing Russian language skills or to start learning Russian from the beginning. Here you will find many useful examples and exercises, an online translator, which helps translate most common sentences and expressions mostly for travelers, section with pictures from different parts of the country and much more.
Russian Language Course With Sound Samples
This site is intended for those willing to learn Russian language online. No previous knowledge of the language is assumed. It may also be useful for those who want to brush up their Russian.
Russian Language Learning on the Web
Learn Russian through a multimedia study experience of classic Russian literature; critically explore the works of Pushkin, Gogol, Tolstoy and Blok, each presented in their historical context, through reading texts, listening to and repeating spoken Russian, watching video discussions and interactive exercises. The Ruslang Project is a joint venture of the University of Sussex and the London School of Economics & Political Science.
Russian Language Mentor
The Russian Language Mentor (RLM) is a self-paced Language Maintenance and Development Curriculum intended for intermediate to advanced Russian linguists. The RLM Curriculum currently consists of the following Tools: Reading Comprehension, Listening Comprehension, Grammar Review, Cultural Literacy (written in English), and Scientific and Technical Literacy. There are also Crossword Puzzles available for developing vocabulary, a Sharing Internet Resources section, and several "recreational-yet-edifying sites" in the Irregardless Gallery at the Boris and Gleb Tea Room, including collections of linguistic bloopers, palindromes and tongue twisters.
Russian Language Tutor
Java applet of Russian tutorials, with sound samples.
Russian Lessons Net
A short course in Russian, with separate sections for grammar and vocabulary.
Russian Literature Language Podcasts from the UCLA Center for World Languages
Podcast for those who want to improve their Russian listening comprehension and expand their vocabulary through listening to excerpts from Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Gogol, Chekhov, and other famous Russian writers. Level: intermediate/advanced. This is a supplement to the intermediate Russian textbook "V PUTI" Russian Grammar in Context second edition by Olga Kagan, Frank Miller and Ganna Kudyma (Prentice Hall). Narrator: Alexandra Paperny
Russian Vocabulary from Languageguide.org
Online vocabulary guide in Russian, with pictorial representations of the words accompanied by pronunciations of the word in audio format. The site is organized in terms of categories of vocabulary, and there is an English name popup for each category link, and Russian name popups in Cyrillic over each picture.
Russnet Online Language Learning Resources
Here, we offer various thematic modules for Russian language instruction. These free modules can be used in the classroom, or for independent study. Includes Russnet Keyboard Practice, Business Russian, Modules for the High School to College Articulation Project, A Cultural Map of Russia, Additional Materials (a collection of online and downloadable materials). Requires registration.
A Spoonful of Russian
Use the audio and videos on the site to stir your interest in Russian language or to refresh your former skills. Learn to participate in simple, direct conversations on everyday topics, in everyday situations; satisfy immediate needs, such as ordering food and making simple purchases. My desire is to create love for the Russian language in my listeners and motivate them to learn more.
A Taste of Russian Podcasts
From the webpage: Welcome to our Russian podcasts 'A Taste of Russian'. If you wish to improve your listening and speaking skills in Russian, we are glad to help you. Be sure, it isn't a boring Grammar course, it is a real chat on different topics which can be heard in everyday life. It is a chance to listen to the native speakers talking at home, at work, at the shop, at the party, etc.
Testing of Russian Language Skills
This site has a series of downloadable programs to test knowledge of Russian grammar, for levels anywhere from beginner to advanced.
Textbook Of The Russian Language
This is a textbook of the Russian language originally intended for Korean students at the Pagoda Language Institute, Seoul, Republic of Korea. It is almost completely in Russian with occasional comments in English. To read this textbook on the Internet your software should be able to handle Russian cyrillic fonts; the fonts used are "Windows" or "CP-1251" only.
Tycoon: A New Russian - A Film by Pavel Lounguine
This Web site was prepared by Viktoria Tsimberov for her students. It will help you understand and appreciate the film and prepare for discussing it in class. Use the commercially available DVD (also available at the Language Resource Center in Noyes Lodge) to play the film in one window on your computer's screen while reading this Web site in another window. With transcript, scene descriptions, and English glosses.

Beginning Russian Grammar
Fairly comprehensive beginning grammar of Russian, adapted from Beginning Russian by one of the author's, Richard Leed.
English and Russian Grammar for Russian Students
The examples below are intentionally simplified to help you understand the concepts, terminology, and principles underlying English and Russian grammar. Though these pages are fairly basic, as time permits they will be expanded and improved.
An Interactive Online Russian Grammar
Dr. Robert Beard's grammar site, a fairly comphrensive grammar with interactive examples and practice sets in Java.
Mini-Russian Grammar Review
Short Russian grammar review, in PowerPoint format.
An Overview of Russian Grammar
Downloadable PDF of Russian grammar from the Department of Slavic Languages and Literature at the University of Southern California.
Principles of Russian Morphology, in Russian
A concise page of Russian word forms in Russian.
Russian Alphabet
Introduction to the Cyrillic alphabet.
The Russian Dictionary Tree
A learner's grammatical dictionary created at Cornell University by Slava Paperno and Richard L. Leed.
Russian Grammar Exercises for Russian Students
The list of grammar exercises below are designed to test your knowledge of Russian grammar. Some parts can be easy; others are quite challenging. If you prefer, review the grammar information on the various grammar pages listed here.
Russian Grammar Page
Russian grammar page, with sections on Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, Numerals, Verbs, Adverbs, Conjunctions, Interjections, Particles, Prepositions, and Sentences.
Russian Web Tutor
A large number of grammar tutorials and exercises. To take best advantage of the Web Tutor it's important to make sure that your computer is set up properly for reading and writing in Russian, as well as for listening to the audio.

Polyglot
Polyglot is a non-profit community dedicated to language exchange. Polyglot allows you to find the right person ready to exchange languages with you. You will search for penpals according to age, gender, location, hobbies, etc. Polyglot is fully customizable. You will choose your own icons, styles or post your own Polyglot translations, so that more people speaking your language can become a member.
Speak Any Language Online Community
Speak-Any-Language.com is a web-based, global community dedicated to making the world a smaller place through understanding of languages and cultures. Our Forums area gives each of our users the opportunity to communicate with each other. Our Chat area gives everyone the opportunity practice speaking in the languages of their choice. Best of all, the services on these pages are free.
UniLang Community
The main purpose of the UniLang Community is to provide an online site where people interested in languages can unite, openly discuss, and find resources related to language(s), linguistics and translations. We are an open non-profit organization, meaning that everything on our site is publicly accessible at no cost, and membership is also free and open for everybody. All data, unless otherwise stated, is licensed under an open licence, the UniLang Public License, as opposed to a restrictive copyright.